How to be a Productivity Ninja

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Graham Alcott discovered the low level of productivity caused by information overload in the twenty-first-century workers; therefore he took a deep dive into his book, how to be a productivity Ninja where he shows how to worry less, achieve more and love what you do. In this book, Graham combines all his teachings from his public productivity workshop from all over the world into a simple and practical guide to working faster and smarter.

The goal of this book is to teach you how to overcome procrastination, how to use email more effectively, and new ways to increase your personal time and how to de-clutter an information overload.

Graham identifies stress as one of the critical components for procrastination, within the first chapter he goes into details on how stress agent is created and our ability to deal with them. The author identifies several causes of stress agent among which he listed conflict, overload panic, fear of being foolish among others. He continues by highlighting the aspects of developing a mindset of a Ninja to use in your productivity. This is about living in the present moment and not thinking about what you need to do or worrying about tomorrow. People’s best work happens when they are present and live in the moment.

One of the key components of the book is attention management. We often read about how important our time is, but attention is finite and should be used as a precious resource more than our time, at the end of the daytime alone has no real value, it is the action in time what gives value to time. He went further to state that the key to productivity and ultimately the application of this precious resource will determine your success. He developed an equation to back up his point which is:

TIME + THE RIGHT ATTENTION AND FOCUS = DONE

He categorizes attention as follows:

  •    ACTIVE: Ticking along but flagging a little
  •    PROACTIVE: Fully focused and alert
  •    INACTIVE: Light is on but no one at home

The author also proposed several strategies to maximize periods of proactivity. This includes taking yourself away from distraction and improving concentration then use mechanism for managing task and determining what to do at any given time. Graham proposed the CORD Model.  CORD is an acronym that stands for Capture, Organise, Review and Do. The first two C and O requires for you to operate in ‘BOSS mode’ while the last two will be R & D needs to perform in “worker mode.”

CAPTURE: means collecting ideas and new tasks quickly and efficiently. This allows you to take distraction out of the way soon and get back to the task at hand.

ORGANISE deals with the appropriate filing of the collected task. The task to be organized in lists and give a sense of scales; therefore activities spanning months are not mixed in with tasks requiring minutes. The goal of this model is to ensure that when operating in execute mode, we are clear on what needs to be done and what is committed to at the moment of executing.

REVIEW:  The review process is a formal and regular look across the tasks to be done taking all things into account like context, priorities, what is needed, waiting for items, etc. after the review is complete, the next step is doing.

DO: Graham outlines an excellent separation between the worker and boss views when he explains the different dashboards that are available to each.  The dashboard contents for each are the followings:

Boss mode:

  • Waiting  for list
  •  Masters action
  •  Calendar
  •  Good idealist

Worker mode:

  •    Master Action List
  •    Calendar
  •    Daily list

THE BIG THREE – KEYPOINTS

Key point #1: Say NO to as many distractions as possible

Key point #2: Knowing what tools to use but being clear about what the tools are will save you time and not provide distractions.

Key point #3: Have good systems to help you react and respond quickly.

One Last Thing

A productivity ninja is not a superhero, but they often do a great job in appear so. Graham Alcott, Productivity Ninja

GREAT BY CHOICE: UNCERTAINTY, CHAOS, AND LUCK WHY SOME THRIVE

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Great by choice is a masterpiece of Jim Collins in-depth research. It was written in collaboration with another influential management analyst, Morten. T. Hansen.  Great by Choice aims to solve the problem of “why in spite of ambiguity, chaos, uncertainty, and market volatility, a few companies thrive, and others struggle.” Collins tackles this question by comparing those who outperformed their competitors by a factor of 10 (10Xers) in given time frame and set of variables.

The authors confirm that the great companies are no luckier than good companies, average companies or bad companies. Luck does not make them succeed because even in times of chaos and uncertainty, they go on working as if nothing has happened. These companies succeed because they have acquired an antifragility trait through a process which combines discipline and preparedness. It is not something in the DNA or something you get by luck or sheer courage. It is through a process that can be learned.

The authors successfully illustrate their point with the story of conquering South Antarctica. In 1911, two explorers made dangerous trip to Antarctica in an attempt to become the first people to reach the South Pole. One was led by a Norwegian, Roald Amundsen, while the other was led by a British Navy officer, Robert Falcon Scott.  Looking at both explorers, you would expect the latter to be remembered by history. That was not the case. It was Amundsen’s expedition who won the race to immortality. Why? Simply put:

PREPARATION. Roald Amundsen didn’t know where he was going, but he had a good idea of the conditions that he may be facing and spent as much time as he could researching Eskimo habits and trying all potential food sources.  Scott, on the other hand, wanted to reach the pole faster, so he carried a lot less weight and used the “untested –for-that-terrain” motor sleds. No one remembers if Scott’s team ever made it home. Neither Amundsen nor Scott knew what they would face on Antarctica, but the former did better in preparing for it.

My favorite part of the book is how much research was included. The authors analyzed the companies which beat their industry indexes Y at least ten times in as many years (10X companies) and found out that they were able to overcome stressful situations because they were prepared.

Firstly, they were disciplined. They were not in a hurry to become better than anyone else; they choose consistency over a rapid rise. By setting targets for themselves and hitting them precisely year by year, they became immune to external influences.

Secondly, they were bold. Their leaders weren’t interested in taking unnecessary risks and as a consequence weren’t required to be anymore of visionary than those of merely good companies.

Lastly, they were productively paranoid, just like Amundsen. The polar explorer tried dolphin’s meat to prepare for the worst-case scenario. The 10x companies do this regularly. In the event that something terrible happens, they already have a good strategy.

The 10x companies are neither more innovative nor more bolder than competitive companies; they were merely more attentive. They use bullets until they are entirely sure of their target and then they fire the cannon balls.

In conclusion, be SMaC: Specific, Methodological and Consistent. That is how discipline is implemented within a company. However, it is  only one aspect of what will help you through hard times. The other is being productively paranoid. Prepare for the worst, hope for the best!

THE BIG THREE – KEYPOINTS

Key point #1: Be Attentive. Fire the bullets, then the cannonballs.

Key point #2: Be specific, methodological, consistent and productively paranoid

Key point #3: Greatness is a long-term strategy, strengthened by a consistent discipline in tactics.

One Last Thing

“The great task, rarely achieved, is to blend creative intensity with harsh discipline so as to amplify the creativity rather than destroy it. When you marry operating excellence with innovation, you multiply the value of your creativity.” Jim Collins & Morten Hanson. Great By Choice

How Did I Not See This Coming?

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One thing is clear to everyone who has been exposed to management… management is tough. In this book, Katy Tynan speaks about the misconceptions that many new managers have regarding what management is all about. Told in the form of a story, it follows the journey of fictitious character, Julie, a recently promoted team leader in a software development company. She’s just run head-on into a brick wall realizing that, even with the best of intentions, she has been doing things wrong.

Most new managers approach their new role optimistically. They believe that all they need to do is work harder and stay on top of all the tasks their team is responsible for. They aren’t thinking about leading a team, they are thinking about keeping track of a lot of tasks.

The first thing Julie learns is that it’s less about tasks, and more about articulating a sense of shared purpose, or a vision. Consider the values that your team members have in common, and how your work contributes to the goals of the whole company. Having a clear understanding of that purpose and vision is the key to prioritization, and to resolving conflicts.

The second challenge most new managers face is the realization that they don’t (and probably can’t) know everything. Before becoming a manager, you may have been an expert in a certain area, but once you make the transition, it’s not about expertise. It’s about your ability to help the people on your team do their best work. Managers most often need to focus on the “what” and not the “how”, which means leaving the details up to your team.

This leads to the third thing that Julie discovers in her journey. While most people who become managers know that goals are an important tool for tracking a team’s progress, they sometimes overlook how important it is to not just have goals but to align them with the vision and with the needs of the people on the team. It’s important to master the mechanics of setting and tracking goals, but they won’t get you very far if they aren’t connected to the larger objectives of the team and of the organization.

Goals are a little like ingredients when you’re cooking. If you go to the grocery store and pick up a random selection of vegetables, you can throw them all in a pot with some water or stock, and you will end up with something that looks like soup. But if you want to make a specific kind of soup, you have to get the right ingredients, combine them with the right spices and cook them for the right amount of time.

The fourth secret is that we all make mistakes. Sometimes it’s a project that goes off the rails. Other times it’s a tough day that makes you lose your cool when your goal as a manager is to have a calm and stable demeanor. The truth is that nobody is perfect and putting pressure on yourself to be perfect or feeling like a failure when you make a mistake is not going to help you in a management role. Keeping your focus on learning from mistakes and fostering a culture of learning rather than a culture of blame is one of the most positive changes you can make in your approach to leadership.

The fifth truth that Julie learns about management is about trust. Leadership comes from mutual trust. Trust is the foundation upon which everything else is built. Your team has to believe that they can trust you to keep your commitments, to tell them the truth and to go to bat for them if need be. You have to trust that your team members are doing their best, that they care about the work they do and the team as a whole. When trust breaks down, it becomes almost impossible to achieve any goal, no matter how well-aligned or constructed it is.

So to sum it up, this book covers five key truths about management:

  1. Vision: Define the values your team shares and measure everything against those values.
  2. Team: Know the strengths of your team members and focus on clearing the obstacles to their success.
  3. Goals: Focus on the output and recognize achievement.
  4. Learn and Adapt: Develop the habit of learning from each day’s work and focus on growth vs. perfection.
  5. Trust: Without trust there is no team.

This is a great book for new managers. There are many takeaways from this book and can only be acquired by getting a copy. It’s an invaluable tool and a great investment that you’ll not regret.

THE BIG THREE – KEY POINTS

Key point #1: Most new managers go into the role with good intentions, but they don’t know what they need to do differently to be a great leader. New managers need training and support to make the transition successfully.

Key point #2: The most important thing a new manager needs to do is create a vision and clearly articulate how the work the team does ties into that vision. From top to bottom, everything the team does needs to support those shared goals.

Key point #3: Today’s work environment is constantly changing. We all need to learn new skills and have a growth oriented mindset to be successful. The manager’s role is to facilitate that learning process, and to create an environment of trust where people can feel safe enough to learn and grow.

 

One Last Thing

The distinction between leading and managing is important. Managing consists of overseeing people who work for you, along with their time and money. Leading refers to your ability to influence and motivate those you oversee; you lead their energy. A great leader understands the difference and balances both. ~Anonymous

Zilch – The Power of Zero in Business

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Nancy Lublin is the founder of Dress for Success and the CEO of the youth volunteering organization, Do Something. In her book, she draws out her concept on how to do more with less of everything, especially human and financial resources while still upholding innovation, creativity and passion. In a time when best-known companies have become non-for-profit organizations because of their dysfunctional models. There are many things profit-oriented organizations can learn from the not-for-profit organization. The challenge of not- for- profit organizations has been thriving in a tough environment where there is not enough money, people or time. This book focuses on how to do something with brand, people, finance and their suppliers.

Lublin addresses the structure and operating practice of the organization. She felt that unless an organization changes its operating model, the chance of survival is low. She decided to transition from operating out of physical offices in different cities to become online organization using social media. By transitioning, it could be faster in delivering its service and cheaper in its operating model. It could also be an organization that is web and social media based and doesn’t require local adult involvement on projects or charge people money to become a member. Nancy explained the five qualities she uses when screening ideas before acting on them: 1) First 2) Only 3) Faster 4) Better 5) Cheaper

Lublin went further to offer ways by which organizations can increase the value of their brand by focusing on hard work and not just marketing. She encourages leveraging on social media to support operations and growth. She also shares advice on ways in which organizations can get more out of their staff and the board of directors to bring value to the organization and not just showing up for meetings throughout the year. This can be done by creating organizational mission and culture where everyone feels like they are part of something big. It is amazing how motivated the employees will be. If there is something more important than profit at stake, it makes everyone more devote and engaged to success. You need to make everyone in the organization pursue the same purpose and develop an organization that communicates its mission.  

 

She proposes that companies should broaden their understanding of reward and compensation so that employees will be motivated and also offer great techniques for extracting the best from people like offering skill development, set specific and attainable goals, give millennials responsibility early, dole out titles and make your work environment communicate your mission etc.  She also shares advice on branding, doing more for customers, stretching finances and many more. She concluded each chapter with eleven questions to prompt creativity in specific areas.

According to Nancy, doing more with less is not so easy but the ideas in Zilch can make it a little easier to do. This book distills the best practice any company, private or public, can adopt.

THE BIG THREE – KEY POINTS

Key point #1:  Money does not make people work hard, everything else does.

Key point #2:  Make everyone in your company pursue a corporate goal.

Key point #3:  Leverage on social media for operation and growth.

One Last Thing

The way I think about culture is that modern humans have radically changed the way that they work and the way that they live. Companies need to change the way they manage and lead to match the way that modern humans actually work and live.”

– Brian Halligan, CEO, Hubspot

The Art of Thinking Clearly

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The Art of Thinking Clearly translates complicated results from cognitive bias experiments, interprets and synthesizes them into short, easy to understand summaries.  Humans experience diverse reasoning patterns out of which many are limitations to logical thinking. Most cognitive errors made by humans are standard and can be identified when you know what you have been and are dealing with.

Knowing these will help you to minimize them, and then you can open yourself up to logical alternatives. The author opens up the reader’s mind to human psychology, reasoning and how to avoid cognitive errors for better decision making.

Among the logical errors, Dobelli explores survivorship bias or systematic overestimation of the chances for success and social proof or feeling that an action or decision is right because a lot of people are doing it. You come across survivorship bias when dealing with money and risk. It becomes especially pernicious when you become a member of the winning team. The author suggests an amazing solution to help clear your mind against survivorship bias, which is a frequent visitation of graves of once-promising projects, career and investment.

Clustering Illusion: When it comes to recognizing a pattern, we are oversensitive. However, it is best to regain your skepticism. If you or someone, close to you, thinks you have found a pattern, first take in consideration that may be pure chance. If it seems too reasonable to be true, see a mathematician and have the data tested statistically.

Social Proof:  It dictates that individuals tend to think they are behaving correctly as long as they act the same as other people.  In other words, the more people follow a particular idea, the better we think the idea is, and therefore support it.

Outcome Bias: Attributing positive outcomes to our capabilities and blaming external issues on external circumstances. This attribute was tested by having two groups of subjects take a personality test then arbitrarily assigning good or bad scores. The students with positive outcome believed the test results were fair and reflected their abilities. The students with the not so good score, on the other hand, found the test was garbage and didn’t reflect their personality. An excellent way to overcome your judgment is to listen to honest feedback and to learn from it without taking it personally.

An illusion of attention:  We often think that we notice everything around us but this couldn’t be farther from reality. As a Harvard study found, it is easier to lose attention than what we think. The experiment had subjects watch a video of students passing balls back and forth while counting how many times the player in white shirts passed the ball.  Later they were asked if there was something unusual that caught their attention. Half of the subjects did not notice anything unusual, unaware of the fact that in the middle of the video, someone dressed as a gorilla walked across the room pounding his chest. We tend to remember things which happen at the beginning and end of a stream of information forgetting what comes in the middle.

Lastly, amongst others is alternative blindness. Whenever people think about an offer, they become blind to alternatives. However, to be able to make the right decision, you have to go out of your mental limit.  

To overcome these cognitive errors in reasoning, we have to be aware of them and take a conscious effort to defeat them.

THE BIG THREE – KEY POINTS

Key point #1: Cognitive biases cause simple errors in most of our day to day thinking.

Keypoint #2: Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. Therefore, make decisions based on facts, only lazy minds are comfortable with the illusion that perception is reality, perception is perception, reality is reality.

Keypoint #3: We are drunk on our own ideas. To sober up, take a step back now and then and examine their quality in hindsight.

 

One Last Thing

“If you ever find yourself in a tight, unanimous group, you must speak your mind, even if your team does not like it.”

― Rolf Dobelli, The Art of Thinking Clearly: Better Thinking, Better Decisions

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

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Patrick Lencioni is an American writer who specializes in business management books, specifically in relation to team management. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team describes a pyramid of five layers which represent the maturity of a team. The maturity in which the team interacts is commonly known as teamwork. The layers are connected in a way that a team becomes more effective when moving  from the bottom layer to the top layer. The author reveals the basics of teamwork by using a leadership story, a fable of a technology company that is scraping to grow and find customers. As the team attempts to work through issues and make progress, the five dysfunctions of their team becomes very clear:

1- Absence of Trust

2- Fear of Conflict

3- Lack of Commitment

4- Avoidance of Accountability

5- Inattention to Results

Understanding these five dysfunctions is the first and most important step to reducing misunderstanding and confusion within a team.

ABSENCE OF TRUST:  The primary cause of the absence of trust is rooted in the inability of team members to show their weakness and be vulnerable with each other. The absence of trust is one of the most damaging traits in team dysfunctionality. A great deal of energy is wasted when team members invest their time in defensive behavior and are hesitant to ask for help or to offer help. Teams can overcome this dysfunction by creating an environment that encourages the sharing of experiences, following through with commitments to demonstrate credibility and developing strong insight into the distinctive characteristics of team members.

FEAR OF CONFLICT: Teams that lack trust are hindered from having a passionate debate about things that matter. This causes a team to replace conflict with artificial harmony. Understanding that conflict can be productive is highly essential when working with a team and can help a team overcome their fear of conflict.

LACK OF COMMITMENT: People are more willing to take on tasks when their opinion is included in the decision-making process. Productive teams make joint and transparent decisions and are confident that they have the support of other team members. It is only natural that when people do not feel committed to the outcome of a result, they feel less responsible for it. The commitment of team members exists when each member has the chance to offer their opinion. This can only be done comfortably when there is a warm environment. People will also be more open to allowing others talk to them about their responsibilities.

AVOIDANCE OF ACCOUNTABILITY: You can’t have accountability when a team doesn’t commit. People rarely hold each other accountable if they haven’t bought into the plan. Considering a well-organized team, it is the responsibility of the team members to hold each other accountable and accept responsibility when necessary. Often, success is measured by the level of progress. The WHAT, HOW, WHEN and WHY must be clearly communicated to the team.

INATTENTION TO RESULTS: When team members are not held accountable, they will often defer to looking out for their own personal interests rather than the team’s interest. A team can only become results oriented when all team members are focused on the team’s results rather than their own. In this regard, the primary role of a leader in overcoming this dysfunction is to set the tone for the team and lead by example. To prevent this dysfunction, you must start from the bottom of the pyramid and build trust between team members. The easiest way to get someone to trust you is to be authentic and reliable. Always do what you say and people will see you as a master of your words.

Patrick Lencioni wraps it up by describing how to improve a team’s result: by celebrating successes, discussing what is most important for the organization and addressing the most critical challenges of the team. In doing so, it encourages team members in a difficult situation to choose the company goal over their own personal goal.

THE BIG THREE – KEY POINTS

Key point #1: There are five dysfunctions of a team.

Key point #2: Leaders can overcome these dysfunctions by setting the tone and leading by example.

Key point #3: Successful teamwork is about combining common sense with an uncommon level of discipline and persistence.

One last thing

“Politics is when people choose their words and actions based on how they want others to react rather than based on what they really think. Simply put, politics have no place in a functional team.”

― Patrick Lencioni

Resonate

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Resonate explores deep into the art of presenting and analyzing what makes a presentation persuasive and memorable. The knowledge of Resonate will raise your game in the art of creating a compelling and convincing presentation. In this book, Nancy Duarte drives the reader through the use of story principle to hold the audience’s attention. She successfully makes a case for:

1- Placing your audience at the center of the story.

2- Seeing yourself as a mentor instead of a hero.

3- Building a workable call-to-action.

4- How famous communicators structure their ideas and most moving speeches.

Nancy advocates a new attitude towards presenting. She believes you need to see your audience as the HERO. Your presentation should not center around your brilliance or the brilliance of your company, but rather you should cast your audience as the hero while you, the presenter, step into the role of a mentor. You should invite the audience to come on a journey with you, from an ordinary world to your special world. Nancy says, casting yourself as a mentor gives you both wisdom and humility.  Audience insight and resonance can only occur when a presenter takes a stance of humility. However, there is a gap between the audience’s ordinary world and your specialized world; it is your role to make the gap clear and invite the audience to take the leap across the gap. Before your audience can be willing to go on a journey with you, you must deliver a concise formulation of what everyone agrees is true. Accurately capturing the current reality and sentiments of the audience’s world demonstrates that you have insight and experience about their situation and that you understand their perspective, context and values.

Nancy also sees the use of contrast as being a primary way of engaging and holding an audience’s attention. If you attempt to play down the contrast so as not to stand out or attract resistance or objections from your audience, your presentation will be bland and boring. The author suggests that for every idea or point in your presentation, you should also think of a contrasting idea. You may not use them all in your presentation, but even thinking about them will be useful. Nancy also suggests that you perform an audit of your content to ensure there is an appropriate balance between analytical and emotional content. She reminds us that whenever we recommend change, either behavioral or organizational change, even if it is a positive change, your audience is likely to resist because change involves loss.

During your presentation, be ready for nitpicking of any errors in your language, cynical body language and outright hostile questions or statements from your audience. Prepare yourself by thinking through your audience’s position. Research has shown that acknowledging and countering opposing viewpoints is more persuasive than only presenting your view.

Of course, always create a memorable moment in your presentation. Nancy refers to this moment as the S.T.A.R. moment, Something They will Always Remember. Traditional public speaking advice has advocated that this moment should be at the start of your talk. However, Nancy suggests that the attention-grabbing and memorable moment can be at any time in your presentation. Your attention-grabbing-opening or moment must align and magnify your big idea and should be worthwhile and appropriate, not kitschy or cliché.

In conclusion, a presentation has the power to change the world. Changing your stance from that of a hero to one of the wise storyteller will connect the audience to your idea and an audience connected to your idea will bring wanted change.

The author helps the reader to present stories that transform them into visuals. This book is highly recommended for any level of presentation geeks, from the beginners to the experts. Every point in the book is supported by detailed analysis of many presentations and speeches, which admittedly, is one of my favorite parts of the book.

As a professional, presentation designs and delivery are one of the most exciting parts of my job. It is a chance to not only express artistically, but also to connect with others. Nancy Duarte’s work is amazing, as seen in her other books, Slideology and Illuminate. If you yearn to be a phenomenal communicator, start with Resonate and let your audience to be the hero.

THE BIG THREE – KEY POINTS

Key Point #1: Cast your audience as the hero and yourself, the presenter, as the mentor.

Key Point #2: Incorporate stories into your presentation  Having the right balance of logic and emotion is essential to bring your audience into your specialized world.

Key Point #3: A presentation has the power to change the world.

One last point

“The audience does not need to tune themselves to you; you need to tune your message to them. Skilled presenting requires you to understand their hearts and minds and create a message to resonate with what’s already there.”

        ― Nancy Duarte

The CEO Next Door

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The authors, Elena and Powell carried out groundbreaking research which reveals the common attributes and counterintuitive choices that set apart successful CEOs. The CEO Next Door draws on the most significant dataset of the CEOs in the world with the real habits of top leaders. Elena and Powell focus on the “four Genome behaviors” that separate great leaders from the rest.

  1. Great leaders are decisive. They make fewer decisions, make them faster and get better every time.
  2. Great leaders engage for impact. They lead with intent, understand the players and build relationships through routine.
  3. Great leaders are radically and relentlessly reliable. They embrace “the thrill of personal consistency,” set bold but realistic expectations, “stand up to be counted on,” and adopt the drills of highly reliable organizations”.
  4. Great leaders adapt Boldly. They ride the discomfort of the unknown, respect but are not a hostage of the past and build an antenna for the future.

Great leaders are women and men who hold themselves to very high standards for personal character and professional achievement. Only then can they hold others to the same very high standards. CEO Next Door debunks a host of popular myths about CEOs which has created a misconception about what a CEO is like. The authors set to eradicate the myth with facts that are derived from an impressive database of intensive interviews with executives. Some of the myths are:

  • CEOs are from Ivy league universities while the truth, based on research, is only 7% of CEOs graduated from Ivy league university. 8% of CEOs did not even have a college education
  • CEOs are destined for greatness from an early age while the truth is over 70% of the CEOs interviewed did not set out to be CEOs
  • CEOs have larger than life personality with enormous charisma and confidence while the fact is a third of the CEOs described themselves as introverted.
  • To become a CEO, you need a flawless resume while the truth is 45% of CEOs interviewed had at least one major blow up or mishap in their career.

The fact is, successful CEOs stood out for decisiveness itself- the ability to make decisions with speed and conviction. They make decisions with only 80% of the information available to them, and they reach out for others perspectives because they realize that all input is not created equal.

Drawing on an exceptional analysis of thousands of current and potential CEOs, they find that the best of the best share some similar traits. They may not come from outstanding schools, but they do know how to make smart decisions, adapt to changed circumstances and work honestly and directly with customers and employees. Culled from the breakthrough study of most successful people in business and illustrated by real-life stories from CEOs and boardrooms, The CEO Next Door offers career advice for anyone who aspires to get ahead. Botelho and Powell, utilizing research, tell us how to:

  • Fast-track careers by deploying the career catapults used by those who get to the top quickly.
  • Overcome the hidden handicaps to getting the job you want
  • Avoid the hazards that most commonly derail those promoted into a new role.

 

This book is recommended not only for the aspiring CEO, but for anyone who aspires to accelerate their career trajectory and looking to raise their leadership to a higher level.

THE BIG THREE – KEY POINTS

Key point #1: CEO Next Door uncovers Four Genome Behaviors of a CEO:decisive, engaging, reliable, and adaptable.

Key point #2: One of the greatest myth is that great CEOs are from Ivy league universities while the truth, based on research, is only 7% of CEOs graduated from Ivy league university. 8% of CEOs did not even have a college education.

Key point #3: One surprise is that 70% of the CEOs didn’t intend to become CEOs when they set out on their career paths, or even mid-tenure in their career. It was only when that role became within striking zone for them that it became a relevant career aspiration.

One last thing:

“Every time you make the hard, correct decision you become a bit more courageous, and every time you make the easy, wrong decision you become a bit more cowardly. If you are CEO, these choices will lead to a courageous or cowardly company.” – Ben Horowitz, CEO of Opsware

The 3rd Alternative

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Stephen Covey is the co-founder and Vice-chairman of Franklin Covey, a global professional service firm. He is a great author and a recipient of many awards, including eight honorary doctorate degrees and the National Entrepreneur of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award for Entrepreneurial Leadership.

The 3RD Alternative shows a way to solve life’s problems. There are two sides of most conflicts; the two opposing sides see their way as the best while another side as wrong. Stephen Covey refers to this as two alternative thinking. Problems are everywhere in the society; religion against science, white against black, liberal against conservative. Each side profoundly identifies their belief with what they believe. Therefore, when the belief is attacked, it is like their self-image is being attacked. Stephen Covey argues that this is why it is so hard for people to get past the 2-alternative mindset; the problem lies in our mental paradigm. Our paradigm governs our behavior which in turn regulates the consequence of our action. “Would you be willing to look at the 3rd alternative we haven’t even thought of yet?” This is a question that is rarely asked during a conflict, yet it seems so simple.

Stephen Covey describes the process of getting to the 3rd alternative as Synergy. He quickly explains that synergy is not a compromise since in compromise everyone loses something. However, synergy deals with the transformation of conflict and not just resolving it, and it is better than just my way or your way.  It is our way.

The 3rd Alternative describes four paradigms and without them, there would be no 3rd Alternative. This paradigm includes: I see myself, I see you, I seek you out, and I synergize with you. Once these paradigms are adopted, you can quickly get a 3rd Alternative.

 

The first paradigm of synergy is I SEE MYSELF paradigm. It sees oneself as unique and capable of one’s own judgment and actions.  This paradigm asks you to think about what you see when you look at yourself. Stephen defines this paradigm as “I see myself as a creative, self-aware human being which is more than the side I favor in a conflict. I might share certain beliefs or belong to certain groups, but these do not define me. I choose my own story.”

 

The second paradigm is the I SEE YOU. This is about seeing the other person as a person not as a thing. When you look at others, what do you see? Do you see them as unique human being with diverse talents? In the I SEE YOU paradigm, you and I are uniquely powerful because your strengths complement each other. There is no combination like us anywhere else. When one embraces this paradigm, they see the other person as complex human being, their respect for that person is authentic, and they can look past the side of the conflict.

 

The third paradigm is I SEEK YOU OUT.  This paradigm is about actively seeking out different views instead of avoiding them. It is significant to see conflict as an opportunity to learn something rather than defending yourself and your side. It is important to listen to someone who does not agree with you. They key however is actually listening to them. During a conflict, we are usually thinking about our side and are not listening to the other person talk. An empathic listener seeks to understand the thought and feelings of others.

 

The fourth paradigm is I SYNERGIZE WITH YOU. This is about coming up with a solution that no one has ever thought of yet. In the synergize paradigm, we look for the 3rd alternative. But this stage is impossible without the first three stages. Once these three paradigms are met, synergy will definitely occur.

 

This book focuses on conflict resolution. By adopting the paradigms necessary for synergy and creating the 3rd alternative, a better solution to any conflict can be reached.

THE BIG THREE – KEY POINTS

Key point #1: A 3rd Alternative requires no concessions at all because it’s truly a better deal for everyone.

Key point #2: Synergy occurs when the first three paradigms are adopted.

 

Key point #3: The 3rd alternative can only be reached by opposing sides when there is synergy.

 

One last thing:

“It’s not only natural but essential for people to have different opinions. I’ve said many times over the years that if two people have the same opinion, one of them is unnecessary. A world without difference would be a world of sameness where no progress is possible.” –Stephen R. Covey

The Radical Candor

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The author, Kim Scott was the previous Director of AdSense with over 700 direct reports. Now, she is the CEO of Candor, Inc. where she serves as an executive coach for several notable CEOs, including those at Twitter and Dropbox.  Kim perceived radical candor as the ability to care personally about people you work directly with while still challenging them directly. When you care about them, you want to help them get better. Radical Candor is a simple, direct and candid book that puts emphasis on being sincere and putting a stop to beating around the bush. The author gave a formula which is:

Radical Candor = Care Personally + Challenge Directly

The first dimension, care personally, is about being more than just professional. It is about giving a damn, spending  time beyond necessary work, sharing more than just your work self and encouraging everyone who reports to you to do the same. If those that report to you hide behind policies, ethical politics and strict-minded process, they should not be on your team and not join you as part of your leadership team.

The second dimension, challenge directly, involves telling people when their work is not good enough and why. This can include, being honest when they are not going to get the promotion they wanted, when you are going to hire a new boss over them or telling them when the result does not justify the investment.

Radical Candor reveals that most people are afraid to challenge directly and many fail to care personally.  In Radical Candor, the author helps us to understand the essentials of communicating, precisely in terms that drive efficient team performance.  She provides a practical framework to help guide your interactions and help you recognize when you are not challenging directly and caring personally. The framework includes four quadrants:

  1. Manipulative Insincerity: This is not caring or challenging the person at all. It is failing to give needed criticism or giving praise when you don’t really mean it.
  2. Ruinous Empathy: This is caring for the person but in the wrong way. It is worrying about hurting the person’s feelings so you soften the criticism to protect them or giving praise that isn’t specific enough for the person to understand what they did well.
  3. Obnoxious Aggression: This is challenging the person without showing that you care. Giving criticism in an unkind manner or offering praise that in a manner belittling to them or others.
  4. Radical Candor: This is challenging the person while showing them you care. It is being specific in your criticism so they understand how to improve. It is being clear with your praise so they know exactly what you appreciate about them and their work. In essence, giving a damn about your people that you take the time to properly give them the good and the bad when it is needed, even when it is uncomfortable.

The author urges that radical candor should be practiced not only in organizations but amidst teams as well. She said “to be radically candid; you need to practice it “up,” “down” and “sideways.”  Create honest and attainable growth management plans once a year for each person who works for you. Hire the right people, fire the appropriate people, promote the deserving people and reward only the people who are doing great balanced work. Too many leaders focus on being professional and do not care personally. In doing so, we actively avoid crossing lines of friendship and ultimately wind up caring about things that actually stand in the way of our end goals.

We are in a beat-around-the-bush culture; Radical Candor dispels that mentality and helps transition managers into leaders who are able to successfully provide guidance to their people and it provides the framework for a leader to be effective when managing people in uncomfortable situations.

THE BIG THREE – KEY POINTS

Key point #1: Don’t just work hard at being professional, adopt the radical candor approach.

Key point #2: Don’t triangulate in interpersonal conflict.

Key point #3: Radical candor is about caring enough to speak directly, and as a leader, being honest with yourself and the people that report to you.

One last thing:

“When leaders are too invested in everyone getting along, they also fail to encourage the people on their team to criticize one another, other for fear of sowing discord. They create the kind of work environment where being “nice” is prioritized at the expense of critiquing and therefore improving actual performance.” -Kim Scott